{ Islam from inside }

Podcast - The Role of Love in the Qur'anic Worldview

Added Jan 31, 2010

This is from a recording made by a good friend at a
recent public lecture given by William
Chittick at Carleton University. The subject of the lecture was
love in the Qur'anic worldview and is based on material Chittick has
collected for a new book he is working on.

The lecture centers around a ubiquitously well known verse in the
Qur'an, a verse described by Sam'ani as a "body-melting, heart-burning"
verse: "He loves them, and they love Him." It's a verse which Chittick
has touched upon again and again in his many works and which he turns
to with a more focused intent in this particular lecture. Chittick's
lectures are a delight to attend as he weaves beautifully insightful
tapestries of traditional Islamic thought in a very expressive manner.
He also has a delightful sense of humor that comes through in his
physical expressiveness and his turn of phrase.

Note: At this
particular lecture, his microphone was not working well and so the
audio volume is very low and the background sounds are quite loud -
I've tried to boost the audio to compensate but it may be necessary for
listeners to turn up the volume to clearly hear the
lecture.

I approached him for permission after the lecture to make this
available online and he graciously granted it. The
lecture is also available as a podcast. You can listen to it here or
subscribe/listen to it as a podcast in iTunes.
As well, Sadiq Alam, on his website "Inspirations and Creative Thoughts"
has taken the trouble to transcribe a few key sections of the lecture.
You can read his post "The
Gaze of Love is Something Else" on his website.

About this podcast

This lecture was taped on a handheld
recorder and, as well, the
microphone /speaker system at the lecture was not setup correctly so
Chittick's voice was unamplified for most of the presentation.
There was also a fair amount of background noise coming from outside
the lecture hall (nevertheless, the content is clear but
background noises and the lack of amplification make the lecture a
little difficult to hear). You can listen to it here or
subscribe/listen
to it as a podcast in iTunes or some other podcast aggregrator.

The full audio (including the question and
answer session following the lecture is also available here in mp3
format: